Exceptional Normality
by Inu Eve
Summary: Rating may change. M-21 exists, but he can't be the Ajussi-that's M-24's job. A story based on a 'what if.'
1. A Matter of Duty

**Noblesse is not mine, I simply exert my will upon the characters.**

**Soooo… *shifty eyes* I was feeling blocked on The Contract and this idea came into my head. It wouldn't leave, so I decided to give it a new home and it's still being an intractable little bugger and has decided to occupy both places. No worries, I'm still working on Contract, but I suppose this will be yet another project I go to when I get stuck. :-D Enjoy and tell me what you think!**

M-24 looked out over the city. After finding a dirty, poorly furnished apartment to use as a base—really more of a bolt-hole—he had left M-21 there to sleep after their trip as M-24 instead scouted the area a bit then bought food.

Cities were nothing new, but as he looked down at the streets where several students in matching, white uniforms happily, innocently walked home from school, M-24 felt a turbulent mixture of emotions settle in his stomach. He quickly pushed them aside and, with a resigned sigh, M-24 looked away and continued his way across buildings until he found a supermarket.

In trench coat and hat, M-24 cut an imposing figure as he pushed his cart through the grocery aisles. As an older woman passed by, he ducked his head and tipped his hat—she went from suspicious and frowning to slightly less suspicious and acknowledging his friendliness with a nod.

As he approached check-out, he carefully avoided looking at the mother with two children loudly asking her for candy—they tended to get nervous like he thought he was going to abduct their children if they caught him looking at all. It was a relief to avoid that particular hurdle and gather his groceries into his arms for the walk to their hide-away.

The walk back to the apartment was uneventful, and the two bedroom was quiet as he entered—unlocked since they didn't have a key—and he silently put his gains away in the kitchen.

Everything done on his list, M-24 couldn't resist the urge to check up on his partner. The giant was capable of incredible stealth when it came to that part of his self-appointed duties, and so he was practically a ghost as he strode to the room M-21 had settled down in before he left.

Sure enough, the other was there, half-curled on top of the bed's worn, threadbare comforter with the spare blanket that had been at the end—an ineffectual attempt to make the room look 'homey'—covering his form until only his hair could be seen peaking out of the top.

Satisfied for now that M-21 was fine—any closer and his partner would likely wake up from his much-needed rest—M-24 detoured into his own room to grab a book before heading back to the kitchen. From experience, he knew that once the kid woke up he'd be starving, and M-24 had found a new recipe to try out of his cookbook.

The smell of stir-fry and meat pulled M-21 out of his slumber, and he grudgingly slid out of his comfortable nest and leisurely sat at the bed's edge for a moment as he blinked the sleep out of his eyes. Once he was more awake, he padded on sock-covered feet down the small hall where he was confronted with the site of M-24 in the kitchen sans trench coat.

He was humming a song they had heard during their previous mission as he poked and prodded at something—_pork, egg, rice, carrots, cabbage, something sweet_—in a frying pan that could easily turn into a lethal weapon in M-24's hands, and not just because of its' size.

"What're you making?" The gray-haired teen asked as he drew nearer with a mixture of genuine curiosity and ravenous hunger.

Glancing at M-21, M-24 chuckled and blocked the younger's path to the pan, "Don't get any ideas, it's not ready yet. Found it in that book I got; it's Pineapple fried rice.

"Pineapple? Is that the sweet stuff in it?"

A quick stir, and the elder steps away from the pan—while still keeping himself as an obstacle in case the teen was hungry enough to eat it right from the pan—"It's a fruit. I looked it up and the actual thing before it's cut up has a weird, kind of spiked skin with a bunch of grass-like leaves at the top. The inside of it is yellow and really sweet. I tried a bit before putting it in."

Convinced he wouldn't be getting at the food for now, M-21 back off by settling on the very well-worn couch in the living room. "Aside from weird fruit, did you find anything interesting? Any idea where we should start looking for those thieves?"

"If our information is correct, they should still be around here with the coffin. Best place to start would be in the abandoned warehouses looking for anyone who's heard of them or anything unusual. If we could find one of the thieves, I could make him take us to the coffin."

Sprawling out on the couch, M-21 grinned with vicious satisfaction, "It could take us days just to find someone with _any_ information."

A sigh, "We can't take too long, kid. The higher-ups don't like wasted time."

M-21 growled. "Then they should have had better security. Unless we get really lucky, there's no way this'll be a quick find."

"We'll start tomorrow, and if it takes us a while, so be it. Just don't go flaunting the time in their faces—no good'll come of it." After this gruff proclamation, M-21 could hear a clatter in the kitchen as M-24 turned off the stove and served portions for each of them into a pair of bowls.

* * *

The days went by much as they had anticipated, and eventually, after a week and a half in Korea, they tracked down a man who was quickly convinced to take them to the room with the coffin.

Too bad it wasn't there.

M-21 refused to be excluded as M-24 drank from their former source, but the giant still did it—not that it bothered M-21, the elder simply felt guilty about doing something like that in front of a kid.

The Union wasn't very accepting of failures.

Business for the day finished, they headed back to the apartment to wait for night to fall and their new 'friend' to go hunt.

M-21 quickly settled on the couch waiting for dinner to be ready, and M-24 happily began on another new recipe. In what seemed like no time, M-21 was asleep once again, and M-24 looked at him with worry. They had never reported anything different about their conditions so that they wouldn't be examined and their improvements discovered, and when M-21 had begun to take an inordinate number of naps the giant had no way to be assured that his partner was alright.

On good days, M-24 decided that it must just be a teenager thing—he'd heard about how kids needed more sleep than adults, and even about students sleeping in classes. On his bad days, M-24 was sure that there was something wrong with his partner; he would remember how the napping suddenly came along after M-21 no longer needed the drugs, and that couldn't be a coincidence.

Mostly, M-24 just let the younger sleep whenever he wanted and prayed to their dead comrades that the kid wouldn't end up dying as well. He had also started to cook healthy meals—or at least as healthy as he could while still making it taste good—which he actually found enjoyable.

As soon as M-24 was done cooking, it was as though M-21 hadn't been asleep at all, so quickly did he enter the kitchen, and M-24 momentarily forgot his worries in favor of ruffling grey hair—an action which earned him a scowl.

* * *

As soon as M-24 realized his infected was attacking a girl about the same age as M-21, he headed off to stop the creature with M-21 following him with confusion at the sudden rush. When the two arrived, they were both shocked to see the red-headed boy's skills.

"He's good," M-21 murmured as he leaned forward with curiosity at the spectacle below.

"Very," M-24 agreed with a touch of frustration.

Smirking knowingly, M-21 turned to him, "Mad your infected got beat by some kid?"

"Heh, maybe. That 'kid' is the same age as you, though, so maybe I shouldn't be too disappointed."

"I'm not a kid," M-21 retorted stiffly.

"Sure, you're not."

"I'm not." M-21 stated again insistently.

"Mmhm."

"M-24," the teen hissed.

Ignoring his partner's aggravation, M-24 jumped down from the roof they had been watching from to riffle through the bag the red-head had left behind. "He forgot his bag." A moment later he stilled in surprise before suddenly pulling out a series of strange magazines.

M-21 momentarily overlooked his exasperation with his partner as he jumped down as well for a closer look. Picking up one, he stared at the title incredulously, "'Please, Don't Do This?' What type of book is this?"

M-24 chortled as he picked up another book, "'123 Ways to Capture a Woman's Heart,' maybe you could use this one, kid."

The teen simply rolled his eyes and began to page through the strange book in his hands with curiosity.

Shrugging, M-24 put his book back in the bag and turned to the infected, "Pretty pathetic how you got beaten like that by a normal kid."

The infected growled, and M-24 could sense the anger and desire for revenge it now had—though that was quickly overcome by all-pervading hunger.

"If you want food, you'll have to go try again, we're not helping you—especially not after _that_ performance."

With a snarl, the creature stumbled away to hunt again, and M-24 returned his attention to the bag then M-21 then to the bag again. Making a decision, he reached forward and picked it up. "Let's take it with us."

"Hmm." M-21 agreed distractedly.

The teen was still reading as they arrived back at the apartment, and he refused to tell M-24 what the book was about. Uneasy, M-24 looked through the rest of the bag and found that an address was printed on a tag on one side. Occasionally, M-21 would let out an amused scoffing sound which at least added credence to the book not being some sort of porn—and didn't that thought make the elder feel like someone's mother.

Sighing, M-24 sat contemplating the bag now sitting on their table. He felt a bit bad that the kid had forgotten it after showing such skill and worth, but it wasn't like he could just deliver it to the kid's doorstep.

Well, he could, but with his appearance most people would be frightened to see him standing on their front stoop. Although, the kid wasn't most people… He glanced over at M-21 again and suddenly grinned. The teen could certainly use some time around other people his age, so he'd drag the teen along with the added bonus of returning that very, very strange book.

* * *

"Why are we returning it?" M-21 asked sullenly as they walked down the street the next day. He had finished the first book then started looking through the martial arts one—avoiding the one about women like the plague, probably because M-24 would never have let that go.

"Aren't you interested in seeing that kid up close? He showed a lot of talent, and he's your age."

M-21 looked at him strangely, "I'll never see him again, so there's no point in getting to know him at all."

M-24 slapped him on the back with a strength that would have hurt a normal human but simply annoyed M-21, "You're too young not to have fun, and we don't know what he'll do anyway. Could be he'll take the bag, say thank you and go along with his life."

"Then why are we doing this again?" As he spoke, M-21 seemed to be eying M-24's grip on the bag as though mentally assessing if he could grab it and run off before the man could catch him.

Rolling his eyes, M-24 grinned, "Because he's interesting and he deserves some sort of reward for being able to beat back that infected with such skill."

M-21 glared at him, "You're doing this to annoy me."

"That, too," the giant smirked.

Huffing, M-21 followed along behind him. For all of his complaining and logic, he admitted to himself that the other boy had impressed him and it was a little exciting to actually talk to someone like that who was his own age.

M-24 could never find out.

Unknown to M-21, M-24 had secretly watched to ensure that the red-head was home ahead of time—the boy with glasses was also there—so when they knocked on the door, M-24 was smugly satisfied to hear the rustling of someone standing and heading for the door.

Reds opened the door in casual attire, and M-24 tried to make himself appear as harmless and friendly as possible for such a big man.

"Er, hi. Can I help you?"

M-24 grinned, "More like we can help you." That said, he lifted the bag into easy view, "Found this bag and your address was inside, hopefully it belongs to you?"

The boy suddenly grinned and happily took the bag. "Thanks a lot for returning this!"

"It was no trouble," M-24 grinned. He'd always been soft on kids, even before he and M-21 had been paired together, and the sincere gratitude, despite his intimidating appearance, gave him a pleasant, warm feeling.

"Do you practice martial arts?" M-21 suddenly chimed in casually. "There was an interesting book on it in there."

"Not that we're nosy or anything, but we had to look inside to find you," M-24 interjected a bit sheepishly.

The boy grinned, "Yeah, I'm considered pretty good. What about you?"

"I've had some training," M-21 admitted.

"Cool! I'm best with Taekwondo and Hapkido, but I'm always trying to add in new stuff." He paused for a moment as though remembering something, "My name's Shinwoo, by the way."

Prepared, M-24 chimed in, "I'm Jung Kwan, and this is my cousin, Jung Hyun Su." Extending his hand for a shake, he grinned and added, "Nice to meet you, Shinwoo."

After quickly placing his newly returned bag down inside, Shinwoo met M-24's handshake firmly, "Nice to meet you, and thanks again for returning my bag. Can I get you a drink or something?"

M-24 smiled at the offer but shook his head, "I should really get back to work."

Suddenly, the boy with glasses they had seen before joined Shinwoo at the door. "What's going on?"

"Ah, these guys returned my bag." Turning back to them he introduced the newcomer, "This is my buddy, Ikhan. We're planning on playing the new Ultimate Soldier game since we got out early from school today."

"Ultimate Soldier?" Surprisingly, it was M-21 who was asking.

"You've never played?" Shinwoo asked with shock. "It's pvp with new weapons, better graphics, and a team mode where you can fight your way across ruined cities in a war zone."

M-21's expression of incomprehension seemed to be too much for the two boys.

"What games have you played before?" Ikhan asked.

"I haven't played any video games. We've never had any." M-21 answered with a hint of embarrassment.

"No way! You have to try playing!" Shinwoo announced. He then looked at Ikhan, and the two almost seemed to be having a silent conversation.

Coming to some sort of conclusion, Shinwoo turned back to the pair on his doorstep—M-24 trying to hide his grin of amusement at M-21's discomfort—and made his offer, "If you've got time, you could come with us to the PC Bang."

"PC Bang?"

The two stared at the grey-haired teen for a moment. "You're a bit like Rai, but you talk more. I don't think he's ever played video games either," Ikhan stated as he adjusted his glasses.

"You should go," M-24 pronounced with hidden satisfaction. Overall, the visit had gone beyond his expectations.

His partner seemed to waver for a moment before as he looked between M-24 and the two teens grinning in the house, "Are you sure?" _What about the mission?_

"Yep." _I can handle it._

"Cool! Let us get our stuff, you can come in if you want, uh, what was your name again?" Shinwoo asked sheepishly.

"Hyun Su," M-21 replied as he cautiously took a step inside—had had immediately begun rehearsing the names in his head after M-24 had given them.

"See you later, kiddo." M-24 stated with a grin as he started walking back to the street.

The nickname made M-21 clench his jaw and unhappily mutter, "Not a kid."

Meanwhile, Shinwoo was running about trying to find his shoes while Ikhan had already gotten his shoes on and was waiting by the door with M-21. Sighing, the short boy turned to M-21, "He's always been like this; he forgets his books for school a lot, too."

"Huh."

Thankfully, M-21 was saved from having to generate more of a response by the return of a disheveled Shinwoo. "Let's go!"

M-21 stared at him in cleverly concealed nervousness, and Ikhan adjusted his glasses with a sigh of exasperation.

When they arrived at the PC Bang, M-21 found himself wordlessly following the other two boys. When they gestured to a seat then each entered one of the booths to his sides, he took the seat and stared at the screen.

Noting that he hadn't logged on, Ikhan quickly joined him and ran him through the basics of the game, though he was soon interrupted by Shinwoo saying something about learning by dying?

"That didn't work for Rai," Ikhan stated crossly.

"It will eventually, I bet!" Shinwoo defended.

"He'll go against me first, Shinwoo. I will at least go easy on him."

So, Shinwoo was shunted back to his booth with much grumbling, and M-21 found that Ikhan was a pretty good teacher.

Soon, he had a decent grasp of the controls and was beginning to have fun, even on those occasions when Shinwoo killed him.

Finally, as Shinwoo boasted and crowed from the booth to his left, M-21 thought up a brilliant plan that he was sure would finally bring Shinwoo to his knees. With utmost care, he positioned himself in what he had analyzed would be the best place for a sniper based on his own training for missions.

Then, he waited.

Ikhan passed through first, but M-21 refused to scare away his prey or reveal his position yet, so the hacker was safe for now. Shinwoo walked through next, and even though the red-head was goading him to come out in the real world, he kept his character still as he lined up his shot. The red-head's character suddenly started sprinting across the courtyard, zigging and zagging to stay behind cover.

He wasn't protected from M-21.

_Headshot! KO! Player Shinwoo killed by Player Hyun Su._

"What?" Shinwoo shouted.

Smirking, M-21 leaned over to peak in at the red-head whose screen sported the scene of his character lying prone on the ground in death. "Gotcha."

Seeing the glee on M-21's face, Shinwoo grinned in response before turning back to his screen as his character re-spawned. "Won't happen again!"

"Suuure," M-21 teased as he returned to his console.

"Nice job, Hyun Su!" Ikhan called out, "Serves him right for being so tough on Rai before."

"Who's Rai anyway?" M-21 asked as he carefully hid on his way to his next spot—Shinwoo was good, he'd have to change positions or the red-head would find and kill him easily.

"Transfer student," Shinwoo answered. He carefully maneuvered his character behind where he thought M-21's shot had come from.

"He doesn't know Korean too well, and his name is actually Cadis Etrama di Raizel." Ikhan added

"So, he's from a different country?" M-21 asked as he lined up his shot.

"Yeah, though we haven't asked him what one. He's really quiet." Ikhan responded.

_Headshot! KO! Player Shinwoo killed by Player Hyun Su._

"Noooooo!" Shinwoo wailed.

"Nice job," Ikhan commented. "Shinwoo isn't patient enough to be a good sniper, but you're doing really well at it."

"Thanks," M-21 grinned as he moved again. He could really come to like this game. Maybe once he had killed Shinwoo a few more times, he'd try using some of the more close-range weapons.

An hour later and several deaths more for all of them, the three stood outside of the PC Bang ready to part ways.

Ducking his head, M-21 started the good-byes, "Well, I had fun. Thanks."

"You should meet us here tomorrow," Shinwoo suggested with a grin and both hands behind his head in a relaxed posture. "We were going to come by with Rai again—he won't get any better if he doesn't play."

"I'd have to talk to my cousin," M-21 responded cautiously but with a bit of hope.

"Well, we'll be here at around 1 since school has been getting out early," Ikhan informed him. "Make it if you can."

He could always only come for an hour or so. "Yeah, I'll see you then."

The smug, pleased expression on M-24's face when he got back to the apartment and informed him of the meeting almost made M-21 change his mind about going.

"You kids go have fun," the elder stated teasingly. "It's not like we have any real leads right now. I'll just do a round about the building that guy said the coffin was in."

"Not a kid," M-21 growled.

* * *

The next day, he made it to the PC Bang a bit early and used the time to people-watch instead of pick at his clothes—his usual uniform, though without the trench coat—or pace. Meeting up with Ikhan and Shinwoo was fine, but he hadn't really factored in that they would probably have other people with them.

He heard Shinwoo first, and the red-head's voice prompted him to stand up from his seat on a bench and look towards the source of the noise. Shinwoo, Ikhan, and two others, a girl and an incredibly handsome boy, were approaching dressed in their classy, white uniforms. The uniforms made him feel a bit more confident about his own—not as formal as he had feared—and it also helped that Shinwoo approached him right away with a grin.

Once they stood next to each other, Shinwoo introduced him, "Hyun Su, meet Yuna and Rai. Yuna, Rai, meet Hyun Su."

"Nice to meet you," the girl murmured with a light blush. The boy nodded in greeting.

"You, too." M-21 answered with faux confidence.

"Just you wait," Shinwoo grinned as they entered the PC Bang, "I'm prepared for you now, you won't be killing me today!"

"Didn't you say something like that yesterday?" M-21 asked with a smirk.

"Ha! Just watch!"

And so the games began, and M-21 found that there was a whole new element to sniping with more people playing. He could hit several people before having to move, but as they caught on to his tactics, it became more and more difficult to switch places without getting shot.

Sadly, he now understood why Shinwoo and Ikhan had kept referring to Rai the other day. The guy sucked. M-21 would purposely not shoot at him, considering it too easy, and he was relieved that Ikhan had been the one to teach him and not Shinwoo like it had been for Rai. After a few more kills it just became too painful to watch—he didn't enjoy killing people over and over without resistance like Shinwoo did—so M-21 eventually logged off and pulled his chair into Rai's booth.

"Here, it can't be fun to die all the time," It had never been fun to be among the weakest experiments in the Union. "Let's team up."

Scooting in close, M-21 watched as Rai's character—standing in the middle of a room—was ruthlessly killed by Shinwoo again. "First off, you've got to get to cover so he can't see you."

Red eyes looked at him without expression, but M-21 could swear there was confusion. "Just watch. You use the arrow keys to go in different directions, and you want to find someplace people can't sneak up on you."

Despite Shinwoo's protests that Rai would learn eventually if he died enough, M-21 patiently coaxed the brunette through the various ways to move and then shoot.

Considering the mess Rai had been before, M-21 considered it a personal victory when the foreigner managed to kill Yuna—even if it was partially luck.

"No fair! Hyun Su was helping him!" Shinwoo cried in Yuna's defense.

"It's fine; I'm glad Rai is learning how to play better." Yuna responded before calling out what sounded like a very genuine 'good job' to Rai.

This small victory seemed to increase the brunette's confidence, and soon he could at least hit Shinwoo and Ikhan, though he still occasionally messed up with his controls.

The high point of M-21's day, though, was when he managed to perform several KOs on Shinwoo while the red-head had been creeping up behind Rai. The brunette was excellent bait, and he seemed to wordlessly understand what M-21 was trying to do—almost like a mind reader.

As they stepped out of the PC Bang, M-21 couldn't help the pleased smirk clinging to his face. He couldn't remember having this much fun before.

"Hyun Su, what school do you go to? I don't think I've seen you at Ye Ran, but I don't think there are any other schools out right now." Ikhan asked with Rai silently standing by as Shinwoo entertained Yuna with exaggerated accounts of his kills.

M-21 paused a brief moment to formulate his reply, "My cousin had work here, and he's my guardian, so I came with him. We're not sure how long we'll be staying."

"You're not from nearby, then?" Ikhan asked with disappointment to which M-21 simply shook his head.

"That stinks!" Shinwoo suddenly butted in.

"Could be worse," M-21 stated with a shrug.

"Well, we're glad we were able to meet you at all," Yuna interjected kindly. She looked to the others, "Right?"

"Definitely!" Shinwoo laughed as Ikhan grinned and nodded. "It's always fun to see someone beat Shinwoo in games."

"Hey!"

M-21 chuckled. "Well, maybe we'll run into each other again," he found himself saying with some surprise and genuine hope.

"Yeah! Hey, we should exchange numbers!" Shinwoo grinned as he got out his phone.

"Er, I don't have a phone."

"Whaat? Who doesn't have a phone these days?" Shinwoo shouted.

M-21 shrugged with a small smile tugging at his lips at Shinwoo's reaction.

"Well, you know where I live, come by some time to play games if we don't catch you at the PC Bang again!"

A pause, "You're sure?"

"Yeah! Actually, why don't you come by tomorrow? We still have to play the new Ultimate Soldier game, and I bet we could get really high scores if you were playing, too."

"Sounds fun," M-21 murmured, and if there was something resembling a real smile on his face, then at least M-24 wasn't there to see it.

**Author's Note: Jung is a fairly prevalent last name in Korea. Kwan means Strength, and Hyun Su means Long Life. The idea is that M-24 chose the names and because of his worries about M-21 chose Hyun Su as a sort of good luck charm. Also, sorry to those who might want more action. I really like exploring the characters rather than having a really serious, intricate plot, which means I'm not just gonna zoom through the story in order to get to the fight scenes and such. **

**As for any pairings, I don't have any in mind, but let me know what you think I should do and if you give reasons I like it just might happen! XD (Except for Yuna and M-21. I'm fairly against that pairing, no matter what age they are. I also tend towards slash for my main, male characters, though hetero is still an option.)**


	2. Of Play Dates and Suspicions

**Noblesse is not mine, I simply exert my will upon the characters.**

As M-21 was looking forward to the following night, Raizel was returning home where Frankenstein immediately picked up on his master's disturbed mental state.

"Master, how did it go with the children today?" _I hope he wasn't defeated again._

"I did not experience death as often."

"That's wonderful, Master!" _Thank goodness._

"But someone strange was there."

"Master?" Frankenstein's forehead furrowed in obvious concern. "A strange person? What did they look like?"

Raizel stayed silent for a few moments, and Frankenstein's agitation rose, "Did he do something, master?"

"He taught me how to stay alive longer."

Frankenstein was thoroughly confused.

"They called him Hyun Su, but he was not a normal human."

"How so, Master?"

"He was a being who didn't belong anywhere."

There was silence for a long moment as Frankenstein tried to puzzle out his master's words, then, "A power user, master?"

"…"

"Would you like me to look into him, master?" Frankenstein asked professionally—it would be difficult to find out anything about someone he had never seen, but maybe if he followed from the rooftops he could get a good picture… He really needed someone he could entrust this sort of thing to.

The Noble continued to hesitate for a few more moments before finally nodding. "Be discrete. He doesn't seem to mean the children harm, but…"

Smiling, Frankenstein bowed, "Of course, master."

* * *

The day leading up to the expected night had M-21 irritable. The teen would go from being incredibly thorough as they searched to being surprisingly reluctant.

'Of course,' M-24 mused, 'he's never gotten this close to having friends, much less friends his own age.'

Not that M-24 wasn't his friend, but they were comrades above all else.

'It's gonna be hell when we get home and he's got nothing to distract him from the time.' M-24 groaned to himself, though with only a little annoyance—seeing M-21 acting his age and looking forward to something normal made the giant happy.

M-24 suddenly frowned as he continued to watch M-21's decidedly hyper-active behavior, 'I'd still prefer that to him sleeping like he usually does. I keep expecting him to just not wake up one day.'

'Damn, I wish I could take him to a doctor.' The giant growled internally. 'Can't take him to the Union, can't take him to a normal doctor even if we get free of the Union…'

Blinking with the suddenness of a new thought he began to muse as he took long strides towards where M-21 was now glaring at a hissing cat—the felines never took to him—his mind processed something that he had considered impossible only a few months ago. 'If they find something, I could probably erase their memories.'

M-21's abilities may have grown more quickly than his own—as well as more powerful—but he had been practicing mind control on people when he could, and with some more time and practice… He could probably do it.

'There's still the matter of getting away from the Union, especially since I still depend on the pills, but in a few months I could control someone at the Union to get more pills then fake my death or something.'

Now, M-21 was questioning what looked like a run-away teenager with much more patience than he would have previously, and M-24 noticed the difference and smiled. 'Well, we've lasted this long. They don't really pay attention to us anymore, so we have time.'

M-21 trotted back. "I gave her ten and she said we might have more luck with a gang down at the docks that specializes in smuggling—apparently, they're the only group people can go to for some illegal travel."

"Good job, kiddo," M-24 grinned as he did his best to push his plans onto the back-burner; they had a job to do. He ruffled M-21's hair as a distraction from his thoughts—the gray-haired teen was extremely good at reading him—and because it amused him to do so.

Scowling, M-21 muttered his usual admonishment, "Not a kid," before rolling his eyes and heading off in a new direction. "We might as well go check it out now."

M-24 hesitated. "I was actually thinking of heading back pretty soon and starting an early dinner in case you don't get it at that kid's house."

It was easy to see how the reminder of his plans had M-21 coming to an abrupt stop. There was even a bit of uncertain movement as though he was about to turn back before he finally seemed to settle on an idea, "You go ahead; I'll check out the gang and be back later."

It was a good idea, but M-24 still hesitated. He really hated leaving the teen alone for things like this.

Snorting, M-21 smirked at him, "I'm not as big as you, but I'm still more than a match against normal humans. Plus," he suddenly continued with a hint of cockiness, "you've never beaten me in a race."

Chuckling, M-24 tipped his head in acknowledgement, "I'll see you later, then. Just remember not to find us what we need too quickly, huh? Don't want to leave yet."

"I know," M-21 stated solemnly.

That done, M-21 began his trek across rooftops towards the docks as M-24 turned back towards home.

* * *

If there was one thing M-21 actually liked about what the Union had turned him into, it was that he could _move_ like this.

The wind rushed by him, and he took a leap that sent him flying onto another roof with an ease that was definitely super-human. As the docks became closer and closer, he could smell the sea in the air and hear it in the calls of shore birds and the flapping of sails. It didn't register to him that most people would still have a ways to go before they could hear such things, and there was no way for him to have known such a detail.

All he knew at this moment was that M-24 was silly to worry—who around here could possibly compete with this level of physical prowess?

Plus, he'd be able to pick out the scent of gun oil and residue with ease, and they'd end up shooting at the wind.

A few minutes later, he was crouched mere roofs away from the beginning of the dockyard. Narrowing his eyes in concentration, he tried to watch for anyone suspicious and instead found himself wishing that he had a pair of binoculars.

Frowning to himself, he focused on moving closer while still avoiding the line of sight of any camera or worker nearby. It was almost a game, and he mused that Ikhan would have enjoyed doing this in a game while Shinwoo would have been too impatient and constantly set off alarms.

The thoughts gave the mission a more interesting twist, and he began to see it as a challenge to keep out of sight rather than the chore he usually saw it as, especially without the cover of full night to help him.

As minutes slowly morphed into an hour and he still didn't see anything, he carefully back-tracked then began his journey back to the house. He felt a bit guilty about saddling M-24 with the boring task of observing the docks, but he could make it up to him another time.

"Maybe I should cook dinner later," he murmured. M-24 had shown him how, after all. Plus, he added sardonically to himself, following directions was what Union members were supposed to be best at.

An appealing smell was wafting from the apartment once he got back, and M-21 smirked in anticipation. He couldn't tell exactly what it was—M-24 seemed to enjoy surprising him—but he could pick out some sort of spice, along with rice, soy sauce, pork, and some vegetables.

"Another new recipe," M-21 stated as he walked in.

"Kind of. I didn't have a specific recipe, just one that I used as a guide for how much of the rice and sauce to use."

"Smells good." M-21 said with a satisfied smirk as his partner handed him a bowl filled with the delicious meal.

"Yep," M-24 responded then chuckled as the teen began to eat a bit faster than usual. "The food's not going anywhere, you know," the giant teased.

"I know that," M-21 growled at him then forced himself to slow down. Shinwoo and Ikhan had just said that night—they hadn't given a specific time to be there—and he had all night to hang out. Even Ikhan had been rather enthusiastic about it, talking about how they could drink soda and have snacks and play games until early in the morning.

He wasn't sure what the appeal of passing out early in the morning was, but the rest of it sounded good.

* * *

M-21 approached Shinwoo's front door eagerly, and only paused for a moment before knocking. From inside he could hear yells—Shinwoo—and then footsteps approaching the door. Ikhan suddenly opened the door and held it open in invitation to the teen—no longer wearing his usual vest and long jacket but instead a plain, white button-up.

"Hey, you're here!" Shinwoo shouted with only a brief glance away from the television screen.

M-21 started in surprise as he noticed Rai was sitting on the sofa and composedly drinking what smelled like tea out of a colorful mug.

Ikhan evidently noticed his surprise as he looked up at the grey-haired teen. "We figured it wouldn't be fair not to invite him, and this way we can play two on two. Plus, you were able to help him a lot before, and this game isn't_ too_ different—it's just a controller instead of a keyboard."

"Ah," M-21 responded, still surprised somehow—maybe it was because the brunette didn't look like he belonged at something like this; it had been like that at the PC Bang, too.

"There are sodas in the fridge, and help yourself to anything on the table," Ikhan added before plopping down next to Shinwoo and goading him on as he continued…wrestling a wolf? His eyes widened for a moment at the unexpected sight before he shook his head slightly and re-directed his gaze to the couch.

A moment later, he took a seat on the couch next to Rai.

Though he appeared to be staring at the screen and paying attention to the game—helped along by the fact that he occasionally joined Ikhan in goading the red-head—in truth, he was watching the _boymanguybrunetperson_ sitting next to him.

The foreigner was so…refined?

Or maybe the right word was remote.

His silence and lack of interest in anything around him made him appear secluded, as though there was a wall around him that could never be penetrated.

Of course, it was Shinwoo who broke the silence between the two several long minutes later.

With a controller thrown at M-21 that he caught only by virtue of his very good reflexes.

"Nice catch!" Shinwoo praised with a grin as he let plopped himself down on the couch to M-21's left. On the experiment's right, Rai appeared to be eyeing the controller Ikhan had handed him quietly—almost as though it was a dangerous animal about to bite.

Smirking, M-21 playfully pushed Shinwoo off the couch, "You shouldn't throw things at people."

"Eh, you caught it, right?"

"Whatever." M-21 rolled his eyes and looked down at his own remote, "How does this work?"

"Seriously?" Shinwoo shouted in wonder before looking over to Rai and noticing the same confusion as Ikhan slowly showed the brunette how to hold and operate the device. "Were you two born under a rock?"

Scowling, M-21 ignored him in favor of Ikhan's explanation. It seemed pretty simple, and he positioned his hands like Ikhan had and began using the directional buttons to scroll through the different missions on-screen.

Eventually, he ended up back at the beginning of the list and decided on the first mission—the assumption being that the first should be the easiest. Decision made, he turned back to look at Rai who was still staring at the controller blankly despite Ikhan's instructions on which buttons to use for shifting weapons, using grenades, crouching…a lot of things.

Shrugging, M-21 selected the mission and found himself in the outskirts of a small town that seemed fairly normal except for the silence of it and a few strangely parked cars. A figure stood beside him, and he turned to look at Rai's character who was…a woman?

"Why is Rai a woman, Ikhan?"

"It wasn't my idea; it was Shinwoo's. Besides, she's a good character."

Rai just looked clueless.

A little irked on Rai's behalf, M-21 chose to ignore it and did a quick test of the controls before abandoning his own controller to make Rai do the same. Shinwoo wasn't being much help, laughing when the brunette almost hit M-21's own character, a man in his 20s who didn't have the raw strength of Shinwoo's previous character but was instead quite agile, and the experiment rolled his eyes before carefully moving his own character out of harm's way.

Preparations complete, M-21 began the mission with Rai following along behind him—at least he seemed able to move now.

"The goal is to get through the town safely, but we have to take out a few groups along the way," M-21 muttered before abruptly stopping his character as he caught a flash of movement from the street.

Carefully, the experiment and Rai—who had to be reminded how to crouch and instructed to do so—concealed themselves behind a car, and M-21 carefully peeked out from it.

"You're gonna get killed," Shinwoo stated bluntly. "There's five of them and you don't have much cover; want me to take over for Rai?"

Tempting. Very tempting.

M-21 reluctantly shook his head even as he scolded himself for being overly-soft towards the elegant brunette. "They haven't seen us yet, so we still have a chance. Rai, I'll go from the front, and you go from the back—when I say 'go,' we both step out and start shooting. If you see one begin to shoot back, hide behind the car again."

Red eyes stared at him blankly. 'I didn't think people could have eyes like that,' M-21 thought to himself in wonder before abruptly pulling himself back to the mission at hand.

"You got it? Okay, we're in position and ready…set…go!"

Chaos ensued, and M-21 could barely hear Shinwoo and Ikhan shouting in the background as he concentrated on wiping out as many of the enemy as possible. He really didn't think Rai was going to be much help in this except as a distraction, so it was up to him.

Eventually he stopped firing as no one fired back, and all three boys stared at the screen in shock.

_Player 1: 4 Killed_

_Player 2: 2 Killed_

Abruptly, all three turned to Rai with surprise, and M-21 was almost sure he saw the brunette's head tip ever so slightly down as a hint of red colored his cheeks.

"Good job," the gray smirked as he turned back to the screen—not, of course, until he had noted the tiny bit of extra color the acknowledgement brought. M-21 stayed alive by being observant, after all.

The rest of the mission went just as smoothly, or perhaps even more so as the two gained a better understanding of the controls.

They spent the rest of the night playing through the various missions, eating an assortment of snack foods M-21 was sure his partner would disapprove of, and drinking a truly colossal amount of soda.

At sometime in the early morning, M-21 and Raizel found themselves staring down at the two other boys who had fallen asleep on the couch—potato chips and wrappers strewn around them.

M-21 looked around the room, at a loss for what to do, and eventually found a spare blanket that he draped over the two as M-24 sometimes did for the youth. His next order of business was then to begin cleaning away the wrappers, and he was surprised when Rai joined him in cleaning.

He hadn't minded the brunette's lack of assistance before, though he had been a bit annoyed at it.

The task took considerably less time than he had thought, and he quickly found himself clueless once more. Well, at least until his vision suddenly became blurry and his body weak as the urge to sleep hit him like a train.

He desperately blinked the sensation away, but he knew from experience that he wouldn't be able to hold out for long.

'I used to worry about needing to take the medication, and now I have sleep all the time or I risk collapsing during a mission.' M-21 scowled, though the effect was ruined by the way his eye lids kept drifting down without permission.

Sighing, he turned to Rai who was watching him with one of his non-expressions that M-21 was too drowsy to make out now.

Blinking heavily, he looked about for somewhere at least semi-comfortable where he could sleep—if Shinwoo and Ikhan were then it must be okay—and eventually settled on dragging a few pillows to a bare, carpeted section of the floor.

Even as quickly as his nest was ready, though, he was so far gone after only those brief minutes that he essentially forgot Rai existed as he focused on getting comfortable before the darkness closed in.

* * *

Raizel was used to being ignored. Many of the Nobles had wished he didn't exist, and he had kept largely to his manor in order to make them more comfortable—himself as well since he had no desire to be well-known among others and thus spread the fear and general disquiet he caused.

Based on these facts, it shouldn't have disturbed him that the new boy, Hyun Su, had promptly fallen asleep on the floor without so much as a murmur.

But it did.

Frowning, the Noblesse approached the strange teenager and observed how his breathing was already deep and even, but there was also something deeper. Power hummed inside the boy's body, emanating from the heart but certainly not confined there. Even as the brunette stood feeling out the power, he could feel the slow changes spreading across the grey's body—changes that were taking a human and turning him into something entirely different.

'Werewolf,' he thought as he focused on the power, and a moment later he turned away and reached out with his mind towards a certain blond scientist.

* * *

Frankenstein was working—too anxious about his master spending the night with _children_ of all beings to go to sleep, and it was a weekend anyway.

'_Frankenstein_.'

The blond abruptly jerked and immediately turned away from his computer. '_Master_? _Are you doing well_?'

'_The children have fallen asleep_.'

Confused, Frankenstein gave a guess as to why his master felt the need to call him, '_Would you like to to return home now_?' Perhaps he was unsure if that would be appropriate? Frankenstein wasn't sure himself, but he was certain that having his master back with him would be pleasant—they could leave a note for the children.

'_Hyun Su is…ill_.'

'_Ill_?' Frankenstein murmured the questioning thought, '_I shall come to the house and check on him if that is acceptable, Master_?'

'_Yes_.'

Communication ended, the scientist quickly put together a small bag of diagnostic equipment before heading towards Shinwoo's house—he had made sure to memorize the address in case his master needed him—over the rooftops.

* * *

Back at Shinwoo's home, Raizel returned to observing the grey-haired teen once his conversation with Frankenstein was finished. The boy's power made him uneasy—not for himself or the children, but for Hyun Su himself—and the boy was supposed to live a human life, yet something had changed that.

He was neither werewolf nor human, and Raizel knew too well the pain of being different from everyone else. The grey hid it well, but he was so happy just being around Shinwoo and Ikhan; their presence made the loneliness and pain the Noblesse could feel from the stranger lighten.

Like it had for Raizel as he had realized how Frankenstein cared for him despite how powerful he was—like occasionally the Lord had made him feel when he was babbling and being his usual, eccentric self.

Several long, silent minutes later he turned towards the door as he sensed Frankenstein approach, and the scientist quickly let himself in and bowed to Raizel.

Blue eyes flicked to the grey hair visible on the floor, and Frankenstein quickly knelt down, carefully pulling back the blanket to reveal the newest source of discontent in his and his master's lives.

"Outwardly healthy, no signs of stress in sleep, breathing normal," he murmured to himself under his breath. "He appears to be in an ongoing deep sleep, which means I can proceed with the diagnostic now," he murmured before turning back towards Raizel after a quick look at the two normal boys. "Master, would you prevent them from waking before I am finished here?"

A nod was the all the answer the scientist needed, and he quickly went back to work, quickly noticing how nothing seemed to disturb the teen' sleep. Such a heavy sleep was possible naturally, but considering Master said he was sick, it was likely a symptom of his condition.

Still, Frankenstein was nothing if not thorough, and he quickly found himself agitated at the idea that it was likely he would never get the boy into his own laboratory to know for sure what he was looking at.

Not that he couldn't give a reasonable guess, of course.

"I would like to see him while he is awake," Frankenstein murmured, "but it looks like he has received an implant—possibly an organ, but I can't be absolutely sure—in order to gain power. However, his body can't take the strain that this power is causing him, but the specifics would require a more in-depth diagnostic."

It was disappointing, really. The boy had likely had this implant for some time if he was walking around and not confined near medical equipment, which begged the question of why he hadn't already died or at least fallen comatose from the strain. Plus, aside from such a deep sleep he seemed otherwise healthy; his body was fighting against itself without severe problems as of yet.

"Like that tug-of-war game," the scientist murmured thoughtfully before turning to look at his master.

A master whose eyes were now trained on his own blues with curiosity.

Quickly, Frankenstein thought back to what his master wanted to know and alighted on a simple answer, "Tug-of-war is a game where a piece of rope is held at each end by different individuals and force is applied to try and gain hold of the other side."

The Noblesse nodded, and Frankenstein smiled and stood up with his diagnostic equipment back in its bag. "I'm afraid there isn't anything I can do right now, Master, unless you would allow me to take a blood sample?"

The brunette turned serious eyes down on the teen they were discussing before shaking his head as a negative.

"I see," the scientist sighed. "Well, I will return home then, Master. Will you be joining me?"

Another slight shake of the head.

"I will see you later then, Master. Take care." That said, the scientist removed himself from the house despite his misgivings—Master should get to sleep in his own bed and have a perfectly prepared cup of tea, not standing in a messy room with three sleeping teenagers.

'I will have to make sure to have appropriate snacks and tea when he returns.'

* * *

Raizel stared absently at the door Frankenstein had left through for several long minutes before turning to look back down at the mystery teen.

'I should not interfere if possible,' he thought coolly to himself. 'He wishes to seclude himself from most; I must respect his wish for privacy.'

Decision made, Raizel took a seat in the solitary armchair and quietly monitored the three teens. He had no notion of anything else he might do in the company of unconscious others.

* * *

Strangely, or perhaps not considering that Shinwoo was an incredibly deep sleeper, Ikhan was the first to awaken. Blinking sleepily, he felt along the surface of the end table by the couch arm he had used as a head rest until he came across the familiar shape of his glasses. Mission completed, he blearily put them on then blinked a few times as the world came into focus around him.

He didn't even need the ability to see to tell that Shinwoo was on the other side of the couch—he had forced Ikhan into a ball so that both could fit, and the red-head was sprawled over most of the couch. The sight of Rai sitting, silent and immovable, in the arm chair surprised him. The brunette must be an early riser if he was looking so composed while Ikhan felt decidedly tousled.

It took him several long moments after that to recall that there should be another occupant of the room, and he frowned when grey hair was nowhere to be found.

A little more clear-headed, he sat up, adjusted his glasses, and turned to Rai, "Where's Hyun Su?"

The brunette simply shifted his gaze from a picture of Shinwoo's family on the wall to look at the ground on the other side of the sofa.

Confused, Ikhan carefully stood and walked over where he could see that Hyun Su had apparently cocooned himself using a light blanket usually kept on the couch along with a pillow that had somehow escaped from the couch before Ikhan and Shinwoo could collapse on it.

Shrugging, Ikhan turned back to the tall brunette, "Hungry?"

A pause and then a small nod, and at Ikhan's motion Raizel followed the teen into the kitchen.

It was as Ikhan was having a bowl of cereal—Rai had some, too, but he was just staring at it for the moment—that Shinwoo entered the kitchen with groggy eyes and a yawn. Almost like a zombie,' Ikhan thought with an inward snicker.

When they had all finished, the three re-entered the living room only to find that the grey was still asleep despite all the noise Shinwoo had made when Ikhan had started teasing him about Yuna.

Not thinking much of it, Shinwoo and Ikhan resumed playing the game while Rai looked on—it was yet to be determined if the brunette could play without Hyun Su.

When two hours of their noisiness still hadn't woken the grey up, the two teens became curious, and Ikhan noticed that Rai joined them in observing their newest friend.

Smirking, Shinwoo left the room and came back with a feather boa.

"Should I ask why you have a pink and black boa?" Ikhan asked pointedly as he adjusted his glasses with a mischievous smirk.

Shinwoo simply rolled his eyes, determined to carry out his plan and not be distracted by Ikhan, "Mom used it for a costume a few years ago." Obstacle gone, Shinwoo grinned and approached his unsuspecting target with malicious glee. Carefully, he peeled back the blanket from Hyun Su's face and dangled the fluffy accessory so that it just barely tickled the teen's cheek.

Nothing happened.

Frowning, Shinwoo experimented. He used more boa then less, checked every spot on that head that he could for ticklishness or some sort of reaction, and he received no success. The grey was as responsive as a stone, and only the gentle movement of his breathing informed that he was still alive.

"He's probably not used to staying up so late—he did say he hadn't played video games before." Ikhan muttered, but there was a slight frown as he did.

"Well, let's get back to playing," Shinwoo finally declared. "He'll wake up eventually."

* * *

M-24 watched Mary and Jake approach and was unquestionably grateful to whatever stroke of luck or fate had M-21 safely away.

Lips pressed into a grim line, he looked at Jake's smirk with well-hidden fear and began to plan.

'How can I keep M-21 away from this bastard?'

**Sorry for the long wait! I didn't want to come out with a sub-par chapter just to be on time, but I wish I had been able to finish this sooner! Also, sorry if you don't like that I'm leaving it off like this, but I think sometimes a bit of a cliffhanger or at least ending with something important happening makes me more excited for what comes next. :-D So, yeah, I'm being manipulative, but it's for a good cause! I sooo want to write more of this while I'm stuck with Contract, and I'm quite pleased that this came out longer than the last chapter—personal goal and all that.**

**Let me know what you think!**


	3. Unwelcome Allies

Exceptional Normality

**Noblesse is not mine, I simply exert my will upon the characters.**

"What are the two of you doing here?" M-24 asked flatly—put any emotion into it, and he may well have growled like some trapped animal.

Jake took a moment to remove his cigarette from his lips and blow smoke into the air before replying—as though M-24 wasn't worth his time, "You've been taking too long. Just shows that failures are failures even with easy missions like this."

M-24 ground his teeth but said nothing. The man was goading him, and over his years watching over M-21, he'd learned to let such taunts slide off his back.

Jake scowled at M-24's silence, and the look caused a jolt of satisfaction for the giant as he continued to watch expressionlessly.

"We are here to take over the mission since you have proven unable to complete it," Mary stated emotionlessly.

"We don't have many clues, so it hasn't been going quickly, but we can still do the job." M-24 carefully disagreed.

"Heh."

"Regardless, we will complete the mission given us, and you will inform us of what progress you have made," Mary continued calmly.

"Alright," M-24 grunted, "I'll show you to the place we've been staying."

* * *

Thankfully, Shinwoo and Ikhan became so involved in the game again that they failed to become concerned or overly interested when M-21 only woke up 3 hours later.

It was the noise that had woken the grey, which meant that it was a grouchy, sleep-deprived M-21 that woke up. Sighing, he shifted the blankets aside and subtly stretched aching muscles.

"Ah, you're awake." Ikhan suddenly observed, "You're a deeper sleeper than even Shinwoo."

Shinwoo promptly punched his best friend in the arm without missing a beat.

"Ouch! Hey!"

As Ikhan and Shinwoo began squabbling, M-21 winced at the noise and breathed deeply to try and quell his burgeoning headache. It didn't help.

Scowling, he plopped himself onto the couch, looked at Rai and almost growled. 'Here I am in pain, and he looks like he could have stepped out of a magazine.'

A few more minutes of noise, and M-21 knew he wouldn't be able to play again anytime soon. Standing, he did his best to ignore the aching of his entire body as he politely made his goodbyes.

"Thanks for having me over, guys, but I need to get back to my cousin."

"Awww, can't you stay any longer?" Shinwoo asked excessively loudly.

M-21 winced and tried to give an apologetic grin. "No, my cousin needs me back soon," he lied. If he was telling the truth, he would have said that he couldn't stand all the noise and needed to get back to the base and sleep.

Ikhan pushed up his glasses in a movement that seemed rather calculating, "Well, you don't have a cell phone, so how can we get in contact with you? Do you have an email?"

M-21 shook his head. "I'll be around for a while longer, and if I have any more free time I can leave a note here?"

The short male was silent for a moment before opening a drawer and pulling out notepad and pen. After writing something down, he tore off the piece of paper and handed it to M-21 who looked at it in surprise.

"Now you have me and Shinwoo's cell numbers," Ikhan grinned. "Try and at least call before you have to go back home."

Embarrassingly pleased, M-21 carefully secured the paper in his pocket and left the house containing his first friends.

* * *

As he ran to the base—the faster he went, the sooner he could sleep—M-21 found his hand drifting to the pocket containing that ever-so-important note often to make sure it hadn't slipped away while he wasn't paying attention. However, when he got to the apartment, he stiffened with the strange feeling that someone aside from M-24 was inside.

When he opened the door, his extra sense was confirmed when the sight of a maliciously grinning Jake confronted him.

"Where you been, brat?" The higher agent asked with a shark's grin.

"Around," M-21 replied with a slight sneer—make him think he's being disrespected, and he won't think to wonder where M-21 really was.

"You should respect your betters, boy," the man growled before stepping forward as though to discipline the teen.

"Jake."

One word from Mary, and Jake scowled, returning to the couch where he promptly plopped down and bemoaned the lack of tv and couldn't failed experiments at least provide him with some entertainment?

Thankfully, M-24 took the opportunity to move forward and snag the temperamental teen by the arm to drag him to the safety of the kitchen.

M-21 glared at him and his unspoken words were clear, 'Why are _they_ here?'

"They were sent to investigate, too," M-24 murmured as he continued to cut up a carrot into tiny pieces.

Grey eyes narrowed, and M-21 scowled but didn't say anything in response except for a muttered, "I'm going to my room."

For M-24 the rest of the day went fairly well. M-21 was tired and skipped dinner—a bit worrisome, but it had happened on occasion—which meant that Jake didn't have any more chances to poke and prod at the teen's often volatile temper.

It also gave M-24 the chance to plan how to keep the two away from each other more in the future. He finally struck on an idea the next morning and could only hope that Mary would go for it.

So, as they all ate a simple breakfast in their own little sections of the room, M-24 looked to Mary with as bland an expression as he could. "You know, it might be a good idea if someone kept an eye on the docks in case they try to ship the coffin out."

Mary didn't speak for a moment, but then M-24 could see her slowly incline her head. Jake apparently did, too, because he groaned, "Why are you taking advice from this failure?"

"It's a good idea, Jake." And when Mary said it like that, they all knew someone would be staying down at the docks.

"Well, I'm not doing it," Jake grouched.

"Maybe M-21?" M-24 ventured casually.

M-21 shot him a look that would have made the giant wince if he wasn't concentrating so hard on pretending he had no ulterior motives.

"Why not you?" Mary asked without sounding interested at all.

"I thought you'd want me with you since I have more experience with the infected we made. You mentioned using him to track down the others?" M-24 asked as he continued to stare down at his food as though it made no difference to him which of them stayed.

When Mary turned towards M-21, who met her gaze carefully and unhappily, M-24 knew he had won. "You'll stay down at the docks, watching for anything suspicious."

Biting down on the anger M-24 knew had to be there, M-21 instead said, a bit sulkily, "How will I get in touch if something happens?"

Absently, Mary tossed something small over to the teen who caught it with ease and looked down at the ear bud with a frown. A moment later, Mary tossed one to M-24 then Jake as well, "We'll head out in 5 minutes."

M-24 gently took M-21 by the upper-arm, only to be shrugged off with a glare that did make him wince this time. "I have some things you should take with you if you're going to be staking out the docks." M-21 didn't stop glaring, but he did follow his partner into the kitchen where M-24 handed him plastic bags full of sandwiches and water.

At the sight of the bags, M-21 glared at him with even more accusation, and M-24 just knew what the teen would say if the others weren't so close: 'You _planned_ this, didn't you?'

M-24 smiled, and when his partner left to begin watching the docks, he couldn't help feeling relieved that M-21 didn't get the chance to snarl at him about it.

* * *

"I'm going to _kill_ him!" M-21 growled as he angrily headed for the docks, ducking through alleys and dangerous streets rather than going over the roofs where he didn't need to worry about being seen. Let someone come up to him and start something—he'd leave them flat on the ground and feel better for it.

Unfortunately, no one seemed willing to challenge him today, even when he stalked right through a group of thugs shooting the breeze. No, instead of challenging him, they decided to part, not meeting his eyes, like damn sheep! On another day M-21 would have been proud of the accomplishment, but today it just incensed him to greater heights.

If there had been a mirror nearby, he might have understood why the thugs had scattered before him. A hint of long canines could be seen as he clenched his teeth in fury, his whole body seemed a bit larger than it should be for a teenager, and, above all, his hands were curled with short claws digging into the flesh of his hand and leaving blood in his wake as he walked with a predator's gaze and eyes.

The thugs would later convince themselves that they hadn't seen any of this, that it had been the drugs—even the ones who hadn't taken anything yet that day. Teenagers didn't have claws, fangs, or animal eyes. They must have had a weird trip.

But M-21 knew nothing of this, and so he moved on through yet more alleys and empty streets without a single person moving to intercept him. And inside, he seethed and fumed, and seethed more when he realized that M-24 must have thought he was _protecting_ him, which made the whole thing even more degrading.

"He's the one who needs protection," the wolf muttered to himself. "We haven't gotten to test it much, but I'm faster than him and _at least_ as strong."

And it was true. Not long after he had stopped needing to take the medication—though they didn't let the Union know right away so they had extra medicine—he had slowly found himself reacting faster, moving past M-24 with ease whenever they ran.

It was both frightening and exhilarating.

It took all the time getting to the rooftop at the docks, however, before he had rid himself of the rather over-done anger. Really, he wasn't sure, as he stopped and stared out at the ocean, why he had been so angry—maybe because M-24 was now _alone_ with Jake who had no problem displaying his dislike of anyone weaker than him?

Whatever the answer, M-21 unhappily plopped down into a defensible corner and pulled out a snack as he set the ear bud beside him—with his stronger sense of hearing, having it in his ear all the time was not only unnecessary for this type of job but annoying.

He would watch the docks as ordered, but they had never said _how_ he had to watch them.

* * *

M-24 carefully held in a sigh as he led Jake and Mary to the building where he and M-21 had created the infected.

'The kid might be mad at me, but I'd definitely rather be watching the docks than following these two.' M-24 griped internally. Already Jake had made several taunts and mocking quips that had M-24 grinding his teeth, but each remark made him even more certain of the decision to send M-21 somewhere else.

The teen was generally calm, logical, and a great partner, but he could have quite the temper and Jake was pushing all the right buttons to spark it. This was proven again when they reached the building and Jake brushed past him with a sneer.

Jaw clenched, M-24 quickly showed them to the room, after which is usefulness seemed to end. Jake, of course, didn't make a show of doing anything useful, but Mary looked through the room and eventually told M-21 that she wanted to use his infected. What for, she didn't say, and he knew better than to ask.

In short, aside from having his patience and control sorely tested, M-24 didn't go back to the apartment feeling like he had gotten anything done.

To make it even more frustrating, as soon as the sun went down, Jake and Mary took off to set up a trap for the infected's former cohorts. M-24 was told to go join M-21 at the docks.

* * *

The grey-haired teen had actually had a decent day. During a short break, he patrolled the perimeter, the teen had come across a group of young, would-be gang members who he had proceeded to vent some of his previous frustration on.

He doubted the group would decide to follow through with their goal after such an absolute beating, or at least they would be smarter about it.

It was as he was finishing off the last of his food that M-21 sensed M-24 coming towards him. Frowning, he put the now-empty container back in the plastic bag and focused on the coming experiment. He could sense M-24 easily now since he was familiar, and he had somehow sensed Mary and Jake's presence before. But, like most of his hidden abilities, he had no real idea of how strong this sense was—if Jake and Mary were with him and he just couldn't sense it, he could be in trouble.

So, just in case, he stood, took a definite observer's stance facing the docks, and finally put his ear bud in.

M-24 snorted when he arrived. "Don't worry, it's just me."

With the confirmation he needed, the teen smirked and sat back down. "So, did you get banished out here, too?"

The giant sighed, "They've decided to use the infected to find the rest of the group. It'll probably take them a few days, so until then we're not of much use."

"Why'd you want me out of the way anyhow?" M-21 asked with curiosity and a light glare. The sight of his partner reminded him of what the man had pulled earlier to get the teen so heated.

M-24 couldn't hide his wince fast enough, and the teen caught the expression. "M-24," he growled, "why did you set this up?"

"I…I wanted to keep you away from Jake." The giant admitted as he looked away guiltily.

"What?!"

Squaring his shoulders, the elder gathered his resolve and looked straight into M-21's eyes. "Jake's crazy, and he doesn't like us—especially you. I didn't want you to be in danger."

M-24 then watched with a morbid sort of wonder as his partner's expression became positively feral. It was moments like this when M-24 was forcefully reminded of how much faster M-21 was advancing compared to him. The boy's canines had become longer and more noticeable as M-21 almost-snarled at the elder, and M-24 could swear his pupils were slit.

"Calm down. Can you tell me for sure that you wouldn't have snapped at him?" M-24 asked sternly with his arms folded across his chest.

M-21 made a deep, rumbling sort of sound that reminded M-24 of a canine's growl and looked away.

"Exactly," M-24 said with a nod.

Of course, having his point proven didn't help M-24 much—now the teen was sulking.

Sighing, M-24 readied himself for a long wait when an idea came to him that might solve the problem, "Hey, since I got you stuck out here, why don't I take over for the rest of today and you go look up those friends of yours?"

M-21 stilled and finally acknowledged him with something other than a glare, "Is that safe with Jake and Mary around?"

M-24 rolled his eyes, "They're not interested in us now that they have their own plans. If they do check in, I can just say I sent you to a different area or something then use the ear bud to call you back. I'll keep you updated every hour, too, so you don't have to worry about Jake or Mary listening to anything you say."

Obviously pleased but trying to hide it, M-21 slowly snatched up his ear bud and put it securely in his vest pocket. Despite not being very pleased with his partner, he still asked again, "You're sure?"

"Positive."

* * *

M-21 was almost jubilant as he ran away from the docks, and the possibility of getting to see his newfound friends when he hadn't been sure of ever seeing them again made him feel a bit guilty for being so mad with M-24. His partner always had his best interest in mind, after all, and Jake wasn't exactly easy to put up with.

At any rate, he decided to stop by the red-head's house before using what little change he had for the pay phone.

Knocking on the door received no answer, and so to the payphone it was, and after dialing Shinwoo's number, he carefully returned the scrap of paper to the safety of his pocket.

"_Hello?"_

"It's Hyun Su."

"_Oh, hey! What're you up to?_"

"I got some free time and wondered if you'd mind some company. I tried your house, but no one was home."

"_Yeah, we're over at Principal Lee's house where Rai lives. Just a sec._"

M-21 could hear shuffling over the phone and the murmur of voices before Shinwoo spoke again.

"_Principal Lee says you can come over if you want. We're just playing board games and hanging out._"

"That works for me. Where is it?"

Without a map, M-21 wasn't confident about finding just an address, and Shinwoo's directions were rather poor as well. Finally, Ikhan took over that side of the conversation, and not long after M-21 found himself in front of the door to Raizel's home.

Forcing himself to relax, he knocked on the door, and heard footsteps approaching.

The door's lock clicked as it disengaged, and the door swung open to reveal a man with long, curly blond hair and a picture-perfect smile.

"You must be Hyun Su."

**Author's Note: The reason we haven't seen M-24 take his medication is because in the series that scene is largely there to show you how they are 'failed' experiments according to my reasoning. Also, if you really want to know, he tries to take his medication at times when M-21 isn't around to not appear weak to the kid, though really it's a variety of reasons in my mind. Also, some of the timing is different from the series, but, like I've said, change just one potentially important thing and there are a lot of other things that may change as a result.**

**Hope you enjoyed!**


End file.
